Jazz & Improvisation / Contemporary

*2024 stock* Hellbound Train is a double-album retrospective from Steve Tibbetts with music selected by the US guitarist from 40 years of recordings on ECM . Neatly divided into electric and acoustic chapters, the anthology juxtaposes pieces originally featured on the albums Northern Song, Safe Journey,  Exploded View, Big Map Idea, The Fall Of Us All, A Man About A Horse,  Natural Causes and Life Of. With its liquid melodies and textures and hypnotic patterns and pulsations subtly influenced by…

The rarefied music of Ramuntcho Matta returns to Emotional Rescue with the first ever reissue of his album, 24 Hrs. Recorded in 1986 – the same year as his influential Ecoute... – the album finds Matta working in a less playful, more experimental framework but with the same ground breaking results. Again collaborating with a selection of accomplished players, 24 Hrs sees Matta (electronics, guitars, marimba, melodica, sanza, vocals) work again with Cacau de Queiroz (flute and saxaphones) and Eli…

Androide Scrip is a jazz record - not mainstream, but plain and simple: piano, drums, bass. Full stop. Influenced by artists such as The Bad Plus, E.S.T., Thom Yorke, Bush and Muse, the debut is not a pop, rock or electro album, even though it repeatedly makes use of song structures from these varieties of current music styles. Together with pianist Florian Kästner and bassist Philipp Martin, the trio led by Jörg Wähner (Apparat, Bodi Bill, The DAS) explores the possibilities in such a way that …

Many artists achieve greatness but very few produce work that is so moving it's considered sacred. Whether you choose to call them hymns, psalms or spirituals, their songs are a healing force for troubled times. Jazzman's Spiritual Jazz series would not exist without the inspiration and leadership of the spiritual messiah that is John Coltrane. It can therefore only be right and proper that a whole album is dedicated to his legacy and lasting influence. Spiritual Jazz 15: A Tribute to 'Trane shi…

*2024 stock* "Nature rejoices in simplicity. And nature is no fool, as Isaac Newton knew. A tree. A fruit. A touch. A look. A flavour that awakens memories. A sound that transports us to a foreign land and back to ourselves. Like that of Kurt Rosenwinkel and his baritone guitar on these eight, with one exception, completely improvised solo pieces. This music is much more than the skilful ordering of notes. It is intoxication and clarity, calm and movement. And because there is only one musician …

Don Cherry collaborator and Bolon Bata founder Christer Bothén (b. 1941) delivers three CDs devoted to his highly personal expression on the bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet. To quote the artist himself: ”Those empty pipes have possibilities enough to cover several lives”. Sounds and silences are delicately carved out in different acoustic spaces, from a rainy soundscape in Spain to a peculiarly resonating church in Sweden. The album also includes a composition inspired by Tarkovskij’s mast…

*3LP Coloured in Woodenbox, with Totebag. Edition of 99* Original masters licensed by Nippon Columbia for the first ever reissue. 3LP official bundle in a wooden box* 'Tapestry: Koto' is a 3-album series produced by Nippon Columbia in the mid-1970s dedicated to one of the main instruments of Japanese traditional music: Koto. The beauty of the trilogy curated by composer Kiyoshi Yamaya, whose chapters are respectively dedicated to Sea, Hillside and Country, lies in the fact that they are a modern…

In July of 2022, just one month before Jaimie Branch’s death sent shockwaves around the world, the trumpet player and composer was in Chicago at International Anthem studios putting finishing touches on an album. It was a suite of music she had composed and then recorded with her flagship ensemble, Fly or Die, over the course of a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. In her wake, the album was near complete, with only mixing tweaks, final titles, and artwork to…

*2023 stock* "Riley’s music has often been called reserved and constructivist, maybe because of his classical avant-garde background. However, his approach is by no means unemotional, there is a very beautiful lyricism in his style. On “Live with Repertoire” you can see this if you compare his version of “Round Midnight” with the one by Miles Davis, whose interpretation of the classic Monk tune sounds like a soundtrack to a French film noir in which the protagonist strolls through a deserted Par…

"It's a particular thing to hear Jeff play solo. He is an unusually selfless improviser, often times laying out and highlighting the contributions of his band mates. He's never been one to play three notes where none would suffice. On this recording however he is by himself, joined only by his own ideas, looped or frozen, to flesh out the music he's creating in his mind. Hearing him craft entire sound worlds on these eight selections gives us an opportunity to really see how Parker orders sound.…

*Limited edition of 555 copies.* Atalaya is new work by bassist Dezron Douglas, and it is alive. That is, ‘alive’ in all the ways that jazz is at its best – as a pure and personal expression of Black Music channeled through time-honored traditions by a group of musicians who practice sonic coherence through musical unity. As Dezron puts it in the opening statement of his liner notes for the album: “Mysticism, Magic, Faith, Love, Power, Discernment! These are words that embody the creative proces…

Fly or Die II. Bird Dogs of Paradise is the much-anticipated follow-up to composer, trumpeter, and (now) singer Jaimie Branch's debut Fly or Die, which was dubbed one of the “Best Albums of 2017” by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NPR Music, WIRE, Stereogum, Aquarium Drunkard, and more. Written (mostly) while on her first European tour with Fly or Die in November 2018; and recorded (mostly) in studio at Total Refreshment Centre and live at Café OTO in London UK at the end of that tour, Bi…

*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 200 copies.* Alto sax player Devin Brahja Waldman lives in New York and leads his own group Brahja and is a member of Heroes Are Gang Leaders and Land of Kush. He also helps run the label Fast Speaking Music with his aunt, celebrated poet Anne Waldman. Master drummer Hamid Drake needs no introduction. Waldman and Drake’s duo was recorded live at Elastic Arts in Chicago in December 2019. The title of the album, "Mediumistic Methodology", relates to a se…

** First pressing of 250 copies on aqua blue cassette shells with artwork by Jaime Zuverza ** Wicken and Debden are tributaries of the River Cam, North Essex and the inspiration for this music. These systems were written by Jack Cooper. The music was arranged, recorded and performed by Jeff Tobias and Jack Cooper. Additional mixing and mastering by Ed Deegan at Gizzard Recording, London. Artwork and layout by Jaime Zuverza.

** 2021 Repress ** In the years following World War Two, Japan developed one of the most insatiable, dynamic and diverse markets for jazz. For a crucial period of little over a decade – from the late 1960s to the early 1980s – Japanese jazz culture progressed at an astonishing rate, producing an extraordinary array of artists, recordings and record labels that created some of the most forward thinking and impressive jazz to be committed to tape. This amazing journey is explored on J Jazz: Deep M…

BBE Music presents J Jazz volume 3, the latest in its definitive compilation series exploring the finest modern jazz from Japan. Since the first volume in February 2018, the J Jazz compilation series has showcased some of the most creative, inspired, and sought-after jazz recorded in Japan during a golden period spanning the 1960s to the 1980s. Illustrating the richness and versatility of the composers and musicians on this collection, the music spans a wide yet coherent range of styles: samba, …

* First ever vinyl reissue of this French free jazz nugget from Sahib Shihab & Jef Gilson Unit Remastered from the master tapes * Paris, February 1972. A few months after having released Le Massacre du Printemps, Jef Gilson was back behind his keyboards for a completely different experience. Heading up his Unit, he was joined by Sahib Shihab, ex- partner to Gillespie, Monk and Coltrane, for a brief stroll in the desert. For three-quarters of an hour, the caravan passes by, evoking, one after the…

"Onkiniemi Ateljee is a cultural space established in a disused knitting factory in 2020, at a time when the Covid pandemic had been raging for roughly half a year. Globally, countermeasures to the disease and the threat it posed were varied, but the effects were universal. Communal rituals, such as live music gatherings, became rarer or changed in nature. The most you could do was put a record on while boiling masks in the evenings. Every now and then I’ve heard people speak of experimental or …

"On a good day it is strenuous to stay current with pianist Matthew Shipp's imposing and voluminous output. On an even better day it is a fool's hardy errand to say the least. Now with the planned re-issuing of some of his great early deconstructions of musical thought and theory, starting here with 1990's daringly incongruous yet hypnotically accessible, Circular Temple, keeping up just got a whole lot harder. With William Parker on bass and Whit Dickey on drums, this four-movement suite for pi…

We’ve rarely listened to anything funkier by Alessandro Alessandroni. Walkingthe line between disco and jazz-funk, our beloved Maestro penned the twoirresistibly groovy gems in this release slightly before his blaxploitation-inspiredsoundtrack to Sangue di sbirro, and there are indeed similarities here–the hornand rhythm sections, as well as pianist Enrico Pieranunzi’s jazz phrasing. Taken from the soundtrack to an obscure 1975 Italian film, Elio Bartolini’s L’Altro Dio, these two instrumentals …

On his 7th album as a leader, Chicago drummer Charles Rumback explores the many ambiances that comprise his musical territory, leading a combo with serious improvisers such as cornetist Ron Miles, alto saxophonist Greg Ward and bass clarinetist Jason Stein.  Seven Bridges begins with the atmospheric tide of “Whatever It Takes”, a less-than-a-minute horn-infused exercise that almost plays like a free-form understatement. It leads to the pop song “Fall Dog Bombs the Moon”, sung by Sima Cunningham …

*In process of stocking.* Few bands in improvised music seem to generate more palpable sonic friction than Brandon Seabrook’s trio with Cooper-Moore and Gerald Cleaver. The group produces a seriously tactile, almost psychedelic sound: the gut-punch of drums, the rumbling twang of diddley-bow, and the slashing, brittle crunch of electric guitar. On Exulations, the trio’s 2020 debut album on Astral Spirits, these sounds coalesced into gritty, propulsive improvisations possessed of an almost three-…

**300 copies** "One aim of improvised music is to create unprecedented sounds. And by specializing in the textures that can be extracted from the spinet, the piano’s 18th Century ancestor, keyboardist Christoph Schiller, who now divides his time between Basel and Weil am Rhein is firmly involved in this trope. On this hushed, microtonal CD, Schiller applies his tweaking of the traditional keyboard to responsive sounds from an instrument as venerable as his, Anouck Genthon’s violin on Zeitweise L…

**300 copies** "Close | Quarters is a seven-track slice of often compacted and angular improv for viola and prepared chamber. The two players here are Benedict Taylor and Anton Mobin. Taylor is a British improviser / avant musician who has been active in the scene since the early 2000s releasing a good body of work, as well as becoming a respected name, and Frenchman Mobin has once again been active since the early 2000’s making a name for himself as both an improviser and sound artists.The albu…

**300 copies, 2019 stock** What self-taught musicians lack in education and (sometimes) technical prowess, many make up for with the need to carve out a space for themselves. Their trajectory is often like a perpetual motion of restless movements. Even among those musicians, Dirk Serries is a special case. Loyal to whoever he comes across, but a solitary seeker at the same time. An eternal outcast whose discography expands at a swift and steady pace, building an island entirely of his own, despi…

**300 copies** "Overall, especially on the over 35-minute Set 1, which perversely in placed last on the CD, the improvisations’ mooring is supplied by the brief, repetative but distinctive patterning of Belgian pianist Martina Verhoeven. Much like John Tilbury’s program with AMM, these continuous motifs are the reassuring signposts for the puffs, scratches, strums and plops contributed by Britons, flutist / alto saxophonist Colin Webster, violist Benedict Taylor and Graham Dunning using a snare …

**300 copies** "Tonus is a group that always contains Dirk Serries and his wife Martina Verhoeven, but otherwise seems to be an open membership group. Today, on Segment Tones, it is a trio. Serries plays accordion and soprano melodica (the latter I would believe for the first time), Verhoven is on concertina and cello and Colin Webster on clarinet and alto saxophone. Whatever the line-up of Tonus might be, I do believe they play slow and quiet music; music that is not in any way, shape or form, …

"The multifaceted drummer Chad Taylor, who proves to be as much virtuosic as practical in his chops, returns with his bass-less trio - featuring saxophonist Brian Settles and pianist Neil Podgursky - for a sophomore album whose program is a jewel. As a sideman, the drummer has been contributing to some of the most compelling projects by the Chicago Underground Quartet, saxophonists Avram Fefer and James Brandon Lewis, and bassist Eric Revis, just to name a few. He brings two of his own compositi…

*In process of stocking* We are beyond thrilled to present the latest from South African drummer / cultural worker / organizer Asher Gamedze.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with his incredible debut Dialectic Soul (On The Corner, 2020) or his work with Angel Bat Dawid and Tha Brothahood, and we're happy to unveil another side of Gamedze's work with out side work | two duets.  out side work | two duets is a very literal album as the album features Gamedze in a conversation of sorts, a recordi…

After nearly five years of silence, the all-star power trio of Giovanni Di Domenico, Jim O'Rourke, and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, working as Delivery Health, return with “SuperDeluxe!” a stunningly beautiful double LP of material, issued by Holidays Records. Encountering three of contemporary experimental music's most remarkable minds locked in the rigorous conversations of live improvisation, across four sides the trio darts and dodges across a startlingly range, never revealing what might come next, …

Zorn’s latest book of music for piano trio is inspired by the writings and thought of the elusive, mystical figure Georges Gurdjieff. The music is expansive, ranging from heartfelt lyricism to textural madness and is brilliantly performed by a tight trio of musical masters—treasured members of Zorn’s innermost circle. Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith form a fiery, soulful unit capable of jumping from a whisper to a scream at the drop of a hat. Following up on their acclaimed debut “S…

This fifth CD by the Chaos Magick band is one of Zorn’s greatest recent achievements. Three extended compositions that run the gamut from Funk, Metal, Contemporary Classical, and more blended into a dramatic narrative that is constantly surprising and yet deeply inevitable. Featuring four of the most accomplished performers in Zorn’s inner circle, this is a mind blowing document of Zorn’s kaleidoscopic compositional vision. Astonishing and utterly essential! John Medeski, Brian Marsella, Matt Ho…

A new release by the all-star guitar trio of Frisell-Lage-Riley is always a cause for celebration and this sixth volume in their transcendent legacy completes Zorn’s second trilogy of CDs with a beautiful and intricate suite of music dedicated to one of the 20th century’s greatest literary visionaries — Samuel Beckett. Performing this gorgeous book of music with a soulful sensitivity, these three master musicians weave musical magic in this stunning collection of acoustic guitar music. Zorn’s mo…

Despite the fact that they've shared several stages over the past 40 years, Ancestors marks the first occasion that trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo have ever recorded together. Smith, one of the true progenitors of creative improvised music, has made numerous duo recordings with drummers, among them Ed Blackwell, Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Adam Rudolph. Moholo-Moholo, a founding member of South Africa's Blue Notes, has also made duo recordings, usually with pia…

Acclaimed trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator Wadada Leo Smith has released an oratorio of seven songs inspired by the iconic civil rights leader Rosa Parks. In his own words, Rosa Parks: Pure Love. An Oratorio of Seven Songs is "concerned with ideas of freedom, liberty and justice, a meditation centered around the civil rights movement." Looking at Smith's more than 50 years of creative and artistic vision, this release is yet another inspired organic musical direction that…

With Celestial Weather, Wadada Leo Smith and John Lindberg employ a spare, conversational approach. Smith whispers on the mute and issues plaintive cries with the open horn. Lindberg bows and goes pizzicato. Smith searches for and finds very un-trumpet-like sounds-squawks and squeaks and whistles. Unlike Smith's large scale offerings, that often feature massive cacophonies, space is a major facet of the sound. It is music that is reflective and serene. The disc's centerpiece, the five part "Cele…

*Limited Edition* Soundtrack to Koji Wakamatsu's 1972 pink film "Ecstasy of the Angels".  Japanese pianist Yosuke Yamashita formed a bass-less trio in 1969 with drummer Takeo Moriyama and tenorist Seiichi Nakamura. Yamashita's Bill Evans-influenced style expanded to include free jazz, a rather radical step given the conservatism of the Japanese jazz scene at the time. Beginning in the '70s, his trio (山下洋輔トリオ) toured widely and played many major European events, including the Berlin and Montreux …

Ensamble Acústico was conceived in the early 1980s by Billy Pereyra and Eduardo Roland in Blancarena, a resort on the coast of the Río de la Plata, east of Colonia, Uruguay. In 1989, after only a few performances, the duo released their first and only album: a cassette of eight songs titled ‘Un Exceso De Luz’ (‘An Excess of Light’), co-released by independent labels Perro Andaluz (Uruguay) and Circe (Argentina). Despite being limited to just 500 copies the album was critically acclaimed and laud…

"The title Composer in Dialogue stands for a biennial cooperation between the ICI Ensemble and a contemporary figure, the aim of which is to create a kind of 'work in progress' through composition itself but also by involving improvisational forms. Performances of pieces thus created remain the intention. The present recording documents an ICI concert with the composer Olga Neuwirth. Olga Neuwirth began her musical career on the trumpet, before she embraced composition as her favoured means of e…

*Limited Edition* Immerse yourself in a delightful offering of Japanese jazz from the 70s, featuring a straight-ahead approach complemented by captivating fusion elements, courtesy of keyboardist Mikio Masuda, whose electrifying presence enhances most tracks. Tenor saxophonist Takao Uematsu leads the ensemble, with the added brilliance of trumpeter Hitoshi Okano, whose bold lines infuse the record with a touch reminiscent of Freddie Hubbard's CTI-era sensibility. While certain tracks exude a fun…